Inventory management system for a refrigerator appliance
AssigneeHaier US Appliance Solutions, Inc.
InventorsSarah Virginia Morris, Michael Goodman Schroeder
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A refrigerator appliance is provided including a cabinet defining a chilled chamber, a door rotatably hinged to the cabinet to provide selective access to the chilled chamber, and a camera assembly mounted to the cabinet for monitoring the chilled chamber. A controller is operably coupled to the camera assembly and is configured to obtain a raw image using the camera assembly, analyze the raw image to identify an anchor object, crop the raw image to generate a reduced image surrounding the anchor object, and analyze the reduced image to identify a food item being added to or removed from the chilled chamber.
Claims20
A refrigerator appliance comprising:
- a cabinet defining a chilled chamber;
- a door being rotatably hinged to the cabinet to provide selective access to the chilled chamber;
- a camera assembly mounted to the cabinet for monitoring the chilled chamber;
- and
- a controller operably coupled to the camera assembly, the controller being configured to:
- obtain a raw image using the camera assembly;
- analyze the raw image to identify an anchor object;
- crop the raw image to generate a reduced image surrounding the anchor object;
- and
- analyze the reduced image to identify a food item being added to or removed from the chilled chamber.
A method of implementing inventory management within a refrigerator appliance, the refrigerator appliance comprising a chilled chamber and a camera assembly positioned for monitoring the chilled chamber, the method comprising:
- obtaining a raw image using the camera assembly;
- analyzing the raw image to identify an anchor object;
- cropping the raw image to generate a reduced image surrounding the anchor object;
- and
- analyzing the reduced image to identify a food item being added to or removed from the chilled chamber.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.